Remembering Marge

NBA commissioner Adam Silver took decisive action on Tuesday, announcing that Donald Sterling would be banned for life from the league. The Clippers owner was exposed by the website TMZ after it posted taped phone conversations with V Stiviano during which the owner made what were just his latest racist remarks about African Americans and Hispanics. The 80-year-old billionaire's words caused a near universal backlash and propelled Silver to act firmly and swiftly, serving as a reminder of what Major League Baseball failed to accomplish back in 1992 when news of Marge Schott’s racial transgressions became public.

Schott purchased the Cincinnati Reds in 1984 for $11m, becoming the only woman to buy an MLB team. With her St Bernard Schottzie always in tow, Schott was seen as eccentric and at times endearing, but also miserly and extremely difficult to work with. She fired her general manager just a few seasons removed from helping to build a World Series winning ballclub, while renowned manager Lou Piniella turned down an extension to stay in Cincy, such was the headache of being entrenched inside the Schott organization. She obviously knew little about baseball, responding "Who's he?" to questions regarding players such as Barry Bonds and Don Baylor, according to reports at the time. All of these traits, positive and negative, were rendered meaningless after allegations of racism and anti-semitism began in 1992.

While being quizzed about the minuscule minority presence in her front office of over 40 people, Schott said: "Look on the field; you see black players for the Reds. They're part of the organization, too." Schott was also accused of slurring black players such as Dave Parker and Eric Davis, while reports of her use of "nigger" surfaced in a documentation attached to a lawsuit filed against her by a former employee.

Jews were later slandered, with the former Red owner telling the New York Times: "Hitler was good in the beginning, but he went too far." When questioned in relation to the lawsuit about whether or not owning a Nazi armband made her anti-semitic, she responded with, "No, they are not smarter than us, just sharper." Schott was also careless with her language in regard to Japanese people. Other reports had Scott uttering the words "million-dollar niggers" and "money-grubbing Jews". Not to mention this gem:

I'd rather have a trained monkey working for me than a nigger.

While this sort of behavior would seem less than ideal, Silver's pacy justice was nowhere to be found in the twisted 1990s world of Major League Baseball. Hall-of-famer Hank Aaron, an African American, called for her to be suspended, and she was, but not for life. Her initial infractions cost her a fine, a year of not being able to work with her GM and some sort of sensitivity training. She could continue to take care of almost all of the other business of running an MLB franchise, and was allowed to attend games.

Unlike the way the NBA dealt with Sterling, MLB's clumsy handling of the Schott situation allowed it to drag on for several more ugly seasons. In 1996 she received an additional two-year ban for further remarks.

At the time of her statements, baseball was without a commissioner, with then Milwaukee Brewers owner, Bud Selig, carrying out a search for the ousted Fay Vincent's replacement, a job that eventually became his. That is surely one reason why Schott was not dealt with in an efficient and harsh manner. And of course, there was no Facebook, Twitter or other social media to publicise the snowball of anger that led to Donald Sterling's swift lifetime ban just days after news of his latest cultural insensitivity emerged.

Or, perhaps a dusty old group of baseball owners just preferred to take it easy on another owner and look the other way. That's just a theory of course, but it may be worth mentioning that a similar stance helped give birth to a Steroid Era, one that began to take over the game right around that time.

There’s a ton more where that came from (and I can’t possibly list all of it here), including the fact that the team has continuously played better on the road than at home over a period of several seasons, their superstar pitcher Matt Harvey is out for 2014 thanks to Tommy John elbow surgery, their underperforming but well-liked and potentially powerful hitting first baseman, Ike Davis, was treated like a such a leper by the front office that when he was finally traded the team could only garner a six-pack of bubblicious as compensation, and, on bring your dog night, those who brought their furry friends to the mostly empty ballpark were made to buy fido their very own ticket.

All of this adds up. The New York Times recently released a map of baseball fandom in the United States based on Facebooks “likes”, and as it happens, there are no zip codes in this country that can claim to be Mets territory, with New York being solidly Yankee. The Mets' field has been especially morgue-like this season, even if the average home attendance has risen slightly in 2014 (doggies in the seats).

Desperate for any kind of attention, the Mets “marketing department” got on its hands and knees and constructed a letter from 1969 and 1986 Mets, both World Series-winning teams, asking fans for their support under the guise of being a “true New Yorker”, talk about tugging at emotional heartstrings. This in the very same week that it was revealed that Paul DePodesta, the team's vice-president of player development and amateur scouting, allegedly said three years ago :“I’m tired of hearing about the ‘86 Mets.” That statement apparently caused friction between team alumni and management, but regardless, several of the 86ers signed the letter, including the beloved Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling, both of whom happen to work for SNY, the network which broadcasts most of New York's games, and is partially owned by, you guessed it, the Mets.

Despite the seemingly endless stream of negativity surrounding the franchise, it’s important to understand that before this unfathomable stretch of torture came to dominate their psyche, fans of the franchise were actually quite a positive group, one that reveled in sudden bursts of miracles and magic, of which there was just enough to make the stretches of losing tolerable. That optimism has been deadened by managements poising of the pot, but somewhat amazingly, it’s not permanent, and there are signs of a rising.

The team, widely expected to struggle, is winning, regularly, and their 15 wins in April mark their most victories to open a season since 2007. Considering the makeup of the roster, it’s hard to believe that the Mets boast a record that puts them in the top quarter of the National League despite significant offensive shortcomings. Their big off-season signing, ex-Yankee outfielder Curtis Granderson, is hitting well below .200, their highly touted rookie catcher Travis d’Arnaud is also “hitting below the interstate”, slugging third baseman David Wright has just one home run and another new acquisition, outfielder Chris Young, has spent most of the April injured.

Yet they find a way to win, and it mostly happens because of pitching and defense. They’ve committed the second fewest errors in the National League, while the pitching has come around in the past two weeks. The Mets team ERA is 2.57 in that period, as the starters, including the unheralded rotation of Dillon Gee, Jon Neise, Bartolo Colon, Zack Wheeler and Jenrry Mejia have kept their low scoring team in the game, while the bullpen, which had blown up earlier in April, has recovered well despite Jose Valverde being lifted as closer in favor of Kyle Farnsworth. Of course, we’ve seen this show before – in recent seasons, the Mets have made a habit of solid starts before faulting in the second half of the season. For now however, what’s left of their fan base are enjoying a rare burst of sunshine.

Not so ancient Mariner returns to the Bronx

It was a sight many Yankees fans thought they would never see: their franchise second baseman taking his position on the diamond in New York, while wearing the colors of another franchise. On a rainy Tuesday evening in the Bronx, Robinson Cano came to the plate as an opponent for the first time in his decade long career, hearing the expected boos from the few fans who braved the frigid conditions. After fleeing town this past winter after signing a 10-year $240m contract with Seattle, Cano is slowly fading from fan's memories, mostly thanks to a reasonably fast start and big contributions from offseason acquisitions including Masahiro Tanaka, Jacoby Ellsbury, Carlos Beltran and Brian McCann. Still, there were a small minority of fans in the bleachers who chose to salute their former all-star standout – something of a rarity in New York sports.

Before his first at-bat, Cano saluted his good friend, pitcher CC Sabathia, whom he was facing, and Yankees manager Joe Girardi in the dugout. He struck out, and went 1-5 on the evening – a tough night for Cano, even if his Mariners did win the series opener 6-3. As for the hostile crowd, well, Cano was well equipped to face the Yankee Stadium music after receiving some boo training courtesy of NBC’s Tonight Show.

NBC's Tonight Show

No dodging 10,000

The Dodgers joined an elite club on Wednesday, with the franchise racking up its 10,000th victory by beating the Twins 6-4, on yet another frigid night in Minneapolis. The win meant that the team which began life back in Brooklyn in 1890 had reached a milestone that only four other ballclubs can claim. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the other teams to reach the win mark are, somewhat surprisingly, the Braves, which also played in Boston and Milwaukee before heading to Atlanta in 1966, the Giants, who were born in New York and headed west with Brooklyn after the 1957 season, and the Cubs – a team known as the lovable losers.

Chicago are the only member of the group to win all of their games while residents of a single city. More surprises: the New York Yankees, winners of 27 World Series titles, have yet to win 10,000 games. However, there's a reasonable explanation. The National League dates back to 1876, while the AL began in 1901. The Dodgers have certainly won a lot of games but they've dropped their share as well, losing 9,082 games along the way. The Phillies became the first North American franchise to lose 10,000 games, claiming the dubious honor back in July of 2007.

Meanwhile, the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner, Clayton Kershaw is closer to returning from his first career stint on the disabled list after throwing five innings during a rehab outing for the Dodgers Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts. Kershaw strained his back some time after making his season debut in Sydney, Australia, landing the southpaw on the DL. After throwing 86 pitches and striking out nine batters, Kershaw could be on his way back to the big club to join the starting rotation.

Bracing for life without Bryce

You couldn't blame the Washington Nationals for feeling a bit snakebitten, losing two cornerstones to thumb injuries over the previous two weeks. Ryan Zimmerman, their oft injured third baseman went down on 12 April after diving back into second base on a pickoff attempt, and Bryce Harper, shortly after being yanked for not hustling in a game by his new manager Matt Williams, hustled too much, tearing a ligament in his left thumb after sliding head first into first on Friday (I'm not going to mention just how dumb this is again). Anyway, Harper gave the thumbs up after he underwent surgery on Tuesday to repair the damage. If you don't believe me, see below.

On the road to recovery..Everything went great and I'll be back soon! Thank you to all the fans for the support! pic.twitter.com/66Wn7sxHQ9

Now the Nats will have to make due with a seriously impaired lineup for some time, a stretch that could see the Braves inflict further pain on their rivals in the National League East. Atlanta have raced off to a 17-9 start, ignoring the loss of several key pitchers to serious injury, while riding the bats of Freddie Freeman and Justin Upton, who were both hitting .330 heading into Wednesday, combining for 13 home runs. It's early, but Atlanta look like a runaway train, while Washington, a team built to win now may have to look elsewhere to find help. Unfortunately for the Nats, the two remaining major free agents, Stephen Drew and Kendrys Morales, both play positions that don't need filling in DC. The Nationals may have little choice but to lean on Nate McLouth, a former Pirates, Braves and Orioles outfielder, for whom they dropped $10.75m on over two years this past offseason for in for situations such as these - so far he's hitting .111.